Summary

Postcard folder featuring colour postcards of Washington in the USA. The postcard booklet was sent in 1938 by Mr Edgar Rouse, Kodak Australasia Chief Managing Director, to Mr H Clark Jnr. The postcard folder was sent while Mr Rouse was on a business trip in 1939 to the Eastman Kodak headquarters at Rochester, New York in the USA. While in the USA Mr Rouse travelled to other destinations. The postmark on the postcard booklet was stamped Idaho but Mr Rouse noted on the front of the envelope 'via Seattle', suggesting he travelled to both Washington and Seattle.

Newly appointed as the Chief Managing Director after the previous incumbent, his father Mr John 'JJ' Rouse, had died in 1938, Mr Edgar Rouse was visiting the USA to consult with Eastman Kodak executives at the head office in Rochester, New York. While away on his trip, Mr Rouse sent a number of postcards to thirteen year old Harry Clarke and his parents. Harry was the young son of two Kodak Australasia employees who lived onsite at the Kodak factory in Abbotsford, Melbourne. When he returned to Australia, Mr Rouse also gave a number of postcards and souvenirs to Harry Clarke.

Harry Clarke Jnr lived on the Kodak factory site in Abbotsford with his parents at the 'Yarra Grange' house from 1938, when he was twelve years old, until 1952, when he was twenty six years old. His mother was the chef in the Kodak directors' dining room and his father worked in silver recovery and then later was a gardener at Kodak. He felt very important to have the chief of Kodak interested in his well-being. Harry remembers that Mr Rouse 'took a shine to me as a small child and on one occasion invited me and his son, John Rouse to be guests with the directors of Kodak in their dining room, which of course brought great pride and joy to my mother. He wrote me cards and sent me cards of boats that he'd travelled on to America, and whilst he was in America he sent me very detailed postcards with long, handwritten notes... He was always very, very kind and gentle with, not only me but my mother and father, who he had great respect for.'

Harry says that 'When I lived at Kodak it was a huge, very huge place, and I seemed to live a very privileged life for a small child, I had the virtual run of the factory excepting some sections, particularly during the war years.... The staff at Kodak were like a large family. ...Living at Kodak at that time was very much like living in an enlarged family, everybody seemed to be very friendly and supportive, the dining room I think provided meals free of charge, there was a lot of benevolence in that period of time.'

The postcard booklet was a 'CT Art-Colortone' made by Curt Teich & Co Chicago, USA.

Physical Description

Postcard folder with 18 foldout colour postcards of Washington, attached to an envelope also printed with a colour illustration of Washington. The foldout postcards have a white border and text at top and bottom in the border. Front of booklet has a stamp, postmark and handwritten address, while inside flap has a handwritten message. The inside of the envelope is printed with information about Washington.

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